CASE STUDY ON NTPC

PRESENTED BY:
M.TECH OILS, OLEOCHEMICALS AND SURFACTANTS
TECHNOLOGY
  INTRODUCTION
 NTPC is India’s largest power utility with an installed capacity of 53,651MW, established in
1975.
 From fossil fuels it has forayed into generating electricity via hydro, nuclear and renewable
energy sources.
 To strengthen its core business, the corporation has diversified into the field of consultancy,
power trading, training of power professional, rural electrification, ash utilisation and coal
mining as well.
 NTPC became a Maharatna company in May 2010, one of the only four companies to be
awarded this status.
 NTPC was ranked 400th in the ‘2016, Forbes Global 2000’ ranking of the World’s biggest
companies.
DIFFERENT AREAS WHERE NTPC
PLANT IS LOCATED
 NTPC BOILER BLAST
 The NTPC power plant explosion was a boiler explosion that occurred on 1 November 2017
at a newly commissioned 500-megawatt unit of the Feroze Gandhi Unchahar coal-fired
power plant.
 A series of lapses triggered by the hurry to launch the 500 MW power unit is
suspected to be behind the deaths of 42 people in the 1 November
accident.
 The plant is operated by government-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)
Limited, in Unchahar, Uttar Pradesh, India.
 The explosion killed 38 people who may have been cleaning ash from the boiler's interior.
 The blast hit the 500-MW Unit 6 that had been operating since April 2017. At the time
nearly two hundred workers were on duty.
 According to a statement released by NTPC, "there was sudden abnormal sound at 20 m.
elevation and there was an opening ... from which hot flue gases and steam escaped,
affecting the people working around the area".
NTPC PLANT OF Unchahar
 CAUSES
 The explosion took place at the 500 MW Unit 6 of NTPC’s plant in Unchahar in Rae Bareli
district of Uttar Pradesh, when the workers were trying to clear coal clinkers stuck in the
boiler.
 Ash gathered in the furnace of the boiler, which should not have happened. Due to
gathering of ash, pressure built up and the boiler burst.
 NTPC had said the accident happened when hot flue gases and steam escaped from an
opening in the boiler following a sudden abnormal sound.
 The sixth unit of the plant was announced by the UPA government in August 2013, and
construction started 16 months later in December 2014. NTPC was constructing this unit in
collaboration with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and NTPC BHEL Power Projects
Private Limited (NBPPL), a joint venture company of NTPC and BHEL.
 The original deadline to commission the unit was December 2016, or 40 months from the
time it was announced in August 2013. However, NTPC sought to make up for the delay in
beginning construction by aiming to complete work in 26 months, and commissioning the
unit in March 2017.
 Continued…
 On 30 March 2017, then Union power minister Piyush Goyal told the Lok Sabha that the unit
would be complete the next day. On that day, 31 March, the unit was synchronised –
meaning the power it generated was connected to the supply grid for transmission.
 On 30 September, the unit began commercial generation of power. In fact, the NBPPL
website cites the completion of the unit as a “historical success”.
 R.K. Sinha, group general manager of NTPC Unchahar, refuted questions about whether a
rush to complete the project may have led to the accident.
 There was no pressure in running the unit. It had to start on 31 March, Sinha told “The trial was
done in August and commercial production started in September.
 Experts raise serious questions However, NTPC insiders and power sector experts with
knowledge of the Unchahar plant who spoke to the Print raised serious questions about the
process of commissioning the plant, and listed possible lapses that could have contributed
to the 1 November tragedy.
 The new unit of a thermal power plant normally starts commercial production two months
after synchronisation. However, in this case there was a gap of six months. Shailendra Dubey,
the Lucknow based chairman of the All India Power Engineers Federation, an independent
outfit, said this indicates “the plant was incomplete” when it was synchronised on 31 March.
 All infrastructure associated with the unit should be ready before the Central Electricity
Authority gives its commercial operation declaration (COD), or formal regulatory approval.
 A boiler in a unit needs less than half-a-dozen workers to operate it. However, there were 311
workers at the sixth unit on 1 November when the explosion took place.
 Labour contractors in Unchahar told that most of them were deployed by contractors for
civil work such as painting, isolation of boilers, and other construction work.
 The unit has to be shut down for clinkers to be removed from the boiler. However, the sixth
unit was running even as the workers tried to remove the large clinkers.
 The sixth unit is also suspected to have reported problems in the run-up to the accident. The
unit tripped twice on 1 November, first at 12.30 pm and then at 3.36 pm, seconds before the
explosion.
 Tripping indicates that the unit was overloaded and had to be shut down.
 Three NTPC assistant general managers were present at the unit along with casual workers
who were trying to remove clinkers that had gone up to a height of 20m in the boiler.
“Twenty metres in the boiler means almost 60 per cent of the boiler was packed.
 Two of the three AGMs died of their injuries and the third is on ventilator support.
 NTPC’s response
 NTPC has called the accident an “uncommon and rarest of failure” and promised a probe
report within 30 days.
 An expert committee of top company executives would rigorously examine each and every
possible cause of the incident which led to the failure of the economiser section in the boiler
resulting in the exhaust of flue gases.
 Multiple teams of NTPC and experts from equipment manufacturer BHEL are analysing the
cause of the incidence.
 Ethical Issues
 Lack of regulation of Indian Boiler Act, 1923 to ensure safety of life and protection of property.
 Underscore the importance of inspection and protocols for hazardous industrial operations.
 Compromise with quality of the equipment and the fuel used.
 Self certification is unfair.
 Periodic inspection to ensure the safety.
 Transparent regulations, safety in work space, rigorous approach to accident reporting.
 The safety and welfare of workers and public at large can not be compromised.
 The accident shows lack of responsibility on the part of the NTPC unit personnel involved in the inspection
and safety measures.
 Warning signals about problems in the boiler ignored and brushed under the carpet.
 Suggestions to avoid such accidents
 Continuous internal and external assessment to keep the management and workforce
accountable at all the times.
 Minor accidents and near misses to be reported immediately to the higher authorities to
take necessary and preventing actions in due time.
 Naming and shaming in this process must be avoided.
 Automisation must always be duly checked by competent persons manually at required
intervals.
 Any accident of such nature must be investigated by external authorities and not merely an
internal inquiry.
 RESPONSE FROM GOVERMENT
 The Uttar Pradesh state government offered cash compensation of Rs. 200,000 ($4,015) to the families of the
deceased, Rs. 50,000 for the severely injured and Rs. 25,000 to those who sustained minor injuries
 India's Minister of Power R. K. Singh announced Rs. 2 million ex gratia for the next of kin of those killed in the
accident
 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a statement said that he was "deeply pained by the accident at the
NTPC plant in Raebareli"
He further added that, "my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover
quickly
 The situation is being closely monitored and officials are ensuring normalcy "
 The National Human Rights Commission of India served a notice to the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government over
the death of more than 30 people in the blast, demanding an immediate high-level probe into its cause
 The UP government ordered a magisterial inquiry by a two-member technical team to determine the cause
of the blast within seven days
 On 6 November 2017, Union Power Ministry has set up a committee headed by P.D. Siwal, Member of Central
Electricity Authority (CEA) to investigate the causes of this accident and suggest measures to prevent such
incidents in future
 The firm has launched an investigation into the blast at the plant, based near the town of Unchahar
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